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A. W. BERNE.

TAIL LIGHT FOR RAILWAY TRAINS.

110,448,815. Patented Mar. 17,1891

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63 999W Wm UNITED STATES PATENT OEEicE.

ARTHUR IV. BERNIE, OF NEl/V ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, ASSIGNOR OF FIVE- EIGHTHS TO BROVVNLEE WV. TAYLOR, CHARLES A. FISH, AND RICHARD J. LOIVDEN, ALL OF SAME PLACE.

TAIL LIGHT FOR RAILWAY-TRAINS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 448,315, dated March 17, 1891.

Application filed March 14, 1890. Serial No. 343,884. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ARTHUR WELLEsLEY BEENE, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Tail Light for Railway-Trains; and I do' declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in tail lights for a railway'train, and its novelty will be fully understood when taken in connection with the annexed drawings and description; and the objects of my invention are to place a light upon the rear car of a railway-train that will enable an engineer on a train following or other person to know by the flash of said light that the train is running, and thereby prevent a collision. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a side View showing magnets, wings, and aperture through which light shines. Fig. 2 is an end view of car. Fig. 3 isa sectional side view of a portion of the car platform and truck, showing the pivoted arm. Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the pivoted arm and clamps. Fig. 5 is adetail front view of the clamps and circuit-closing arm. Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the mechanism illustrated in elevation in Fig. 5.

Similar letters and figures refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In the drawings, A refers to a pair of magnets, which are preferably placed in a box in which the light is placed, and attached to the same are wires 2 and 3, which are connected to metal contacts N N and battery P.

B are wings, which are rigidly attached to shaft Q, and are made to rotate by the closing of the circuit through the magnets A, the armature of which pulls the pawl E, causing ratchet-wheel O to rotate, and thus rotating shaft Q, upon which is fastened wings B B. It will thus be seen that if the circuit through magnets A is rapidly opened and closed that the wings B B, which constitute a screen, will in their revolution travel in the circle shown by II and will pass rapidly before the aperture C, through which the light shines, and the rays of light being thus interrupted by wings B B cause flashing.

D is the armature of magnets A; F, a spring to regulate action of pawl E.

G is a dog to prevent back action of O.

I is a brake to regulate the rotation of the wings B; J, a spring attached to pawl to return same when circuit is broken.

The ordinary tail light as now used is simply placed in a box in which the magnets are placed so as to permit the wings B B to pass before the light. In order to close the circuit and cause the magnets to reciprocate the armature with each revolution of the carwheel when the train is running ahead, I fix upon the car-axle at asuitable distance apart two clamps M,which turn therewith and which afford a loose bearing for the lateral T- branches upon the end of an arm K, as better illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings. This arm K, which is provided on its free end with a headed or enlarged portion, is adapted in operation tobe thrown by centrifugal force between the contact-plates N N, thus closing the circuit for an instant and rapidly actuating the magnets,which action causes the wings B B to rotate and the light to flash instead of shining steadily.

Adjacent to the ends of the respective T- branohes of the arm K, I fix to said branches a lug L, which engages with inwardlydirected lugs or projections upon the forward sections of the respective clamps M, and thus prevent the arm from passing farther than a perpendicular position with relation to its bearings in the clamps. By this construction it will also be seen that when the car is at a standstill or traveling backward the arm K will assume a position tangential to the axle, thus keeping the circuit open and allowing the tail light to shine steadily and inform the engineer of a following train to the movements of the train preceding him.

A striking advantage of my invention is its simplicity, economical construction, and easy manner in which same may be applied, thus an electric circuit closed by said arm, electroenabling it to be readily seen whether a train magnetic devices operated by the circuit, and

at night is running or stopped. a screen operated thereby [or flashing a light,

Having described my invention, what I substantially as and for the purpose set forth. I5 5 claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, In testimony whereof I affix my signature in is presence of two witnesses.

Theherein-described apparatusforlndicat- ARTHUR W. BERNE ing the movement of a railway-train at night, consisting of a metal arm adjusted on the Witnesses:

zo axle of a car, said arm being rotated by the HELMUTH I-IOLTZ, revolution of the axle of the car, terminals of PERCY D. PARKS. 

